Tuesday, March 6, 2012

All of these and more were ways that I used to answer when people in Italy asked who I was or what I was doing in their country. We would often talk about it as a team - how do we present ourselves? I remember one team member pointedly experimented with various answers to gauge what kind of response they would illicit.

Inevitably, the responses were similar as they got to the core of why we were there. "Oh, THAT'S why you are here..." To convert. To proselytize. To change me.

One of the questions I was most anxious to answer in returning to the U.S. was, "What kind of person would I be when I wasn't paid to be good?" "What kind of disciple of Jesus would I be when my livelihood didn't depend on it?"

The answer to the question has come with an ironic twist. Whereas before I was somewhat embarrassed because my answer seemed to bring out peoples' defensiveness, or their neatly-packaged answers to faith, or their long-held suspicions, or their all-too-quick labels of 'mormon' or 'J-W', upon my return here I was embarrassed for a different reason. In answering 'salesman' or 'manager' or 'blinds man' I was touching a still-tender part of my identity that was and still is changing and forming. There is a strange, pre-wired hitch in the way I answer; as if 11 years of flinching when I answered has embedded itself in my DNA.

But lately, that has changed. As I've begun to really embrace my new location and role and situation, I've begun to truly enjoy answering the question. In talking with people, when the question comes up, I can simply answer, 'I'm normal. Just like you. Work a job. File a regular 1040." And it's not about not being weird or different as much as I love how it levels the playing field when it comes to sharing my story and how Jesus has changed me and is directing my life.

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The Sunken Church

This blog follows the life, ministry and adventures of the Casey family. We were missionaries in Ancona, Italy from 2000 until 2011. We are now adventuring in the US of A, experimenting with running a business, growing a garden, raising a family and challenging the Church to break outside the box and adopt new forms to reach a new generation with the truth of the Gospel.

di Ancona

About Me

Born in Santiago, Chile I have grown up on the move - lived in some 15 different homes. I am a 'word' person - enjoying almost anything to do with books and literature. I love exploring God's great world and helping people find their place in it.

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sunken

The story goes like this:

There once was a church down by the port in Ancona, Italy. With the passing of time, shaken by earthquakes and beaten by the winds, the foundations of the church crumbled and the church toppled into the sea. A friend of ours shared with us that she remembers, as a little girl, playing along the pier and seeing the remains of the church under the water. She remembers seeing the cross from the top of the church under the surface. She told us that some say that if the wind was strong enough and the waves choppy enough, you could even hear the bells...

The story leads to this question:

If we were to raise her out of the water, if we were to restore her completely to what she was originally intended to be...what would she look like? If we were to remove her from all the traditions that humankind has surrounded her with and drowned her in...who would she be?